Fishing is one of the oldest recreational activities known to man, and many hundreds of devices have been developed to facilitate the carrying of fishing tackle to wherever fishing will take place. Given that fishing is also an activity intended to take time, a variety of portable devices have been devised to allow fishermen to sit off the ground wherever they might be while they are fishing.
Indeed, devices having multiple functions, such as for carrying tackle and sitting and/or other purposes, have been developed. Merely by way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,680 (Grasso) discloses a bucket device which serves various functions, including storage, a seat, a table, and a buoy marker, and U.S. Pat. No. 100,801 (Pratt) discloses a device having both flotation and sitting purposes.
Given that recreational fishing is always carried out at bodies of water--whether from boats, from the shore, or even on ice in the middle of lakes--water safety is always an important consideration. Particularly in boat fishing and in ice fishing, there is risk that fishermen, whether children or adults, may fall into the water and need help. There is a continuing need for improved and highly-accessible safety and rescue equipment for fishermen.
Regarding carrying functions, one device used for fishing, particularly for ice fishing, is what is called the "tip-up." Tip-ups are devices allowing a fisherman to watch multiple lines at one time. Such devices can be somewhat difficult to carry as part of the fishermen's tackle, and can tend to become entangled together or with other fishing equipment during carrying. There is a need for an improved device for carrying tip-ups.
While multi-purpose fishing bucket apparatus is known, as pointed out above, there is a need for an improved apparatus having safety functions, as well as improved carrying functions.